Vigils Reading – Blessed Cyprian Tansi

THE ROAD TO THE FATHER’S HOUSE

From the homily of Pope St John Paul II

at the Beatification of Blessed Cyprian Tansi

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The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in the

Nigeria that he loved so much. He was first of all a man of God; his long hours

before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous

love. Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met

him was touched by his personal goodness. He was then a man of the people: he

always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral

needs of families. He took great care to prepare couples well for Holy

Matrimony and preached the importance of chastity. He tried in every way to

promote the dignity of women. In a special way, the education of young people

was precious to him. Even when he was sent by Bishop Heerey to the Cistercian

Abbey of Mount Saint Bernard in England to pursue his monastic vocation, with

the hope of bringing the contemplative life back to Africa, he did not forget his

own people. He did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their continuing

sanctification.

Father Tansi knew that there is something of the Prodigal Son in every

human being. He knew that all men and women are tempted to separate

themselves from God in order to lead their own independent and selfish

existence. He knew that they are then disappointed by the emptiness of the

illusion which had fascinated them, and that they eventually find in the depths

of their heart the road leading back to the Father’s house. He encouraged people

to confess their sins and receive God’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of

Reconciliation. He implored them to forgive one another as God forgives us, and

hand on the gift of the reconciliation, making it a reality at every level of

Nigerian life. Father Tansi tried to imitate the father in the parable: he was

always available for those searching for reconciliation. He spread the joy of

restored communion with God. He inspired people to welcome the peace of

Christ, and encouraged them to nourish the life of grace with the word of God

and with Holy Communion…

Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness

which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was

first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the

missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly

African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are

called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are

now ready for the harvest… Father Tansi’s witness to the Gospel and to

Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local Church now offers to the

Universal Church…

We must be convinced that each of us, according to our particular state in

life, is called to do no less than what Father Tansi did. Having been reconciled

with God, we must be instruments of reconciliation, treating all men and

women as brothers and sisters, called to membership in the one family of God…